I've been thinking a lot about the aesthetics of my aquarium, particularly now that it is graced with fishie lives. And I'm starting to think that I need to replan the artificial plants.

I now understand how Tetras move about the tank, what they dart behind when they're hiding, where they like to laze when they're not schooling, and which corridors they shoal in. They clearly like variety in the landscape. In the following photo, you can see Les Six and the Justice League -- all ten Tetras -- although the Martian Manhunter is trying to pull his translucence act.

Although I recently rescaped by creating a bank and rearranging the plants, the net effect still feels hollow. My fakes include:

1: Eleocharis acicularis, Hairgrass (short)

2: Eleocharis acicularis, Hairgrass (long)

3: Vallisneria americana, Jungle Vallisneria

4: Cabomba caroliniana, Fanwort

5: unknown

I've spent a lot of time reading planted aquarium books, surfing the rich array of aquarist sites, and examining, up close, plant life in aquaria at the fish store. It's too late (destructive at this point) to try to add live plants to my first aquarium. That's fine. But I can do an awful lot with the 'scaping. To wit:

Today, over at Nippon Goldfish, I bought a piece of African-lake driftwood (environmentalists on the apocalyptic end of the spectrum can talk to the hand). Its twists, like crazy freeways of bark, are quite lovely. I'll now be soaking it, with regular water changes, for about two weeks, to remove the tannins that darken water and toy with pH. It's several inches across and high, and looks like a chunk of wood you'd expect to find jammed, wallowing in moss, between rocks at the bottom of a freshwater stream. That's as close to organic matter as I'll be adding to this first tank.

I also bought several new artificial plants. Takashi Amano, a noted photographer of tank life, and a proponent of the nano-environment (very small tanks reproducing -- with care -- much larger environments), was my inspiration in this.

Many of the "prize" aquaria you can view in gorgeous detail at Marcos A. Avila's The Age of Aquariums are nothing if not mouth-dropping milestones. What you want to be when you grow up, aiight?

To the right is Alex Kawazaki's sublime aquarium, all in a 7-gallon tank. His tank, unlike mine, has real plant life in it, which no combination of fakes can truly emulate. What's more impressive is that he's working with 3 gallons fewer than I am. So, I have lots of opportunities for aesthetic improvements in the landscape. Note that Kawazaki's tank was clearly inspired by Takashi Amano's photography.

The plants. I'm going to wait until the driftwood has finished cooking before I add the new fake flora, but, for the record, here's what I got:

2 long Hairgrass clusters

a bed of Echinodorus, Chain Amazon

Myriophyllum Demersum, Foxtail, for red-leaf contrast

2 small cloth plants, reddish in hue, I don't know their species

The object is to create density and depth. The fun never stops. I see why and how newbie aquarists become quickly addicted. Conservation coupled with education. Nice.